Passenger cruiser crashes into Thames bank after engine catches fire

142 passengers and six crew members have been evacuated from the vessel to shore

A passenger cruiser has crashed in the Thames bank after its engine caught fire.

Footage of the incident posted to social media showed smoke billowing from the Thames pleasure cruiser as it ploughed into a pier in Canary Wharf on Sunday.

Police said they were called to a reports of a fire on board the vessel at Canary Wharf pier near Rotherhide Street at 3:40pm.

All passengers and the majority of the crew on board were evacuated to shore and there were no significant injuries, police said.

London Fire Brigade said a fire in the cruiser's engine room had been extinguished before firefighters arrived at the scene.

The Brigade confirmed 142 passengers and six crew members had been evacuated from the vessel via two separate boats.

Three crew remained on board.

Dan Hine, 38, from Limehouse saw the incident while walking along the river with his wife. He told the Evening Standard: “We saw the smoke coming from the back of the boat and thought it may be pretty serious.

"The ferry hit the wall with quite an impact and after that people started scrambling around and the sirens went off. There was quite a lot of black smoke at this point."

A spokesman from the London Port Authority said that both of the vessel's engines had failed. He confirmed there had been no injuries.